School offers incentives for perfect attendance

September 18, 2006|ERIN SMITH Lafayette Journal and Courier

OXFORD, Ind. -- Getting to school every day last year wasn't too hard for Chandler Henry, now a second-grader at Otterbein Elementary School. But waking up in the morning was. "I just don't like waking up really, really early," Chandler said late one morning last week. A few minutes later, he admitted that he still felt tired. "Yeah, sometimes I get really grumpy." But Chandler was never late to school last year, and he didn't miss a single day of class. As an incentive for having perfect attendance all year, Chandler's name was entered in a drawing with other Otterbein students who got to class on time every day. Chandler won a shiny green bicycle that's still a little big for him to ride. Last year, Benton Community School Corp. administrators began working to raise attendance levels at the district's five schools. A new policy required parents to call the schools by 8:45 a.m. if their children would miss school because of an illness. After a certain number of absences, parents would be asked to meet with the district's attendance officer, Brad Harper. Once students have nine absences or demonstrate chronic absenteeism, the county's truancy officer may be informed. "The state requires us to have 96 percent attendance, and our goal is to have 96 percent," Harper said. Last year, he initiated several incentives, such as giving away a car donated from Bear Auto in Fowler to a high school student with perfect attendance. Every nine weeks, Harper had some sort of a prize or opportunity for perfect attendance students to participate in. And at Benton schools, perfect attendance means perfect attendance -- no tardies, nurse visits, or doctor's or funeral excuses. Parents are encouraged to schedule appointments before or after school so students won't miss class time. Students who have valid excuses for being absent aren't penalized for missing school, Harper said, but also are not eligible for the perfect attendance incentives. Harper said the attendance rate rose about 2 percentage points from the 2004-05 school year. Every elementary school reached attendance goals, he said. Benton Central Junior-Senior High School had 26 students with perfect attendance last year -- up from the previous year's six students. Administrators are cracking down on early withdrawals, or students who enroll later in the year to get more vacation time, Harper said. "We're more concerned that kids aren't taking their education as seriously as they could," Harper said. "We wanted to put a point across on how it's important to stay in school." As for Chandler, he knows going to school is important. "So you can learn and you can see your friends and you can see your gym teacher and a lot of people you know," he said, explaining he hopes to have perfect attendance again this year for a chance at another prize.